Friday, April 1, 2011

Have a Little Fun Today

April fool's day is celebrated on April 1. It is widely recognized as a day that tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness. The origin of the holiday was first mentioned in 1392 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It was written that the engagement anniversary of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia in 1381 took place on March 32. Readers took this to mean April 1, however the true date was 32 days after March which would have been May 2.

Another tale of the origin, according to an English newspaper article published in 1789 describes the first April Fool's day occurred when Noah sent his dove off too early, before the flood waters had receded. He did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April.

It has become more difficult to prank someone, since people are more sophisticated, and expecting it. Here are some fun ideas to prank friends and family:

Prank Your Coworker

Wait for a colleague to leave his desk, open up the Google homepage and click the “language tools” link to the right of the search bar. Scroll a third of the way down the page and change the interface language to Yiddish or even Klingon. Select the “Bork, bork, bork” setting and he’ll get semi-comprehensible gibberish that mimics the Swedish Chef on The Muppets. Other fun options include Pirate, Elmer Fudd and Hacker.

Prank Your Sibling

Have a bro or sis who uses Microsoft Word a lot? Open the program and click on “Autocorrect” under the “Tools” tab. Change the settings so that funny words like “bric-a-brack” or “collywobbles” appear when he or she types a common word, like “the” or “and.” You can also make it so that every time your sibling types his or her name, “Captain Cool Beans” or an equally embarrassing moniker comes up.

Prank Your BFF

Go into the contacts in your pal’s cell phone and change the name associated with your number to a TV character, celebrity or person from her past. Send her ridiculous texts from your phone — she’ll wonder how Mr. T became an entry and why he needs her to join the A-Team. If your friend knows your cell by heart, this may be a one-trick idea. If she doesn’t, you’re in for hours of fun.

Prank Your Man

Scoop about an inch off the top of your man’s stick deodorant. Replace the layer with cream cheese, molding it to look like the original product. Watch as he swabs his underarms with a milk-based food product that’s sure to create a sour smell that’ll draw plenty of stares (and possibly insects).

Prank Your Boss

Paint over the tip of every pen and pencil at your head honcho’s desk with clear nail polish. Wait for his or her phone to ring or make a prank call and watch your boss struggle to find a useful utensil. If you’re feeling guilty afterwards (or concerned about your next paycheck), let the big cheese know that a swipe of nail polish remover will have him writing in no time.

Prank Your Roomie

Steal your roommate's coat from the closet. Sew the coat cuffs of each arm together so that she won’t be able to get her hands through when attempting to get the jacket on. Have a flatmate who lays her clothes out the night before? Sew closed not just the coat cuffs but also the leg holes of her undies and the foot openings of her jeans. It’ll trip her up in more ways than one.

Prank Your Neighbor

Obtain five or more life-size cardboard cutouts of celebrities from a novelty or party store. Place them in various spots on your neighbor’s lawn, facing the house. When they wake up and look out the window or go to grab the paper, they’ll find Betty Boop, Bruce Lee and Barack Obama peering in on them.

Prank Anyone

This is one of my favorite pranks: Order Chinese take out and sneak off with one of the fortune cookies. Use tweezers to remove the paper fortune and on a piece of similarly sized white paper write “Help, I’m trapped in a fortune cookie factory.” Place it back in the cookie. Covertly put the cookie on your dining companion’s plate and watch him or her freak out when they break it open and read the fortune.

Prank Your Kids

Here's a breakfast they’ll never forget. Stick a straw into a jelly donut and suck out the filling, gently pressing the donut to get most of the jelly out. Remove the first straw and insert another in the same spot. Put a squirt bottle up to the open end of the straw and squeeze the ketchup in, again using your hands to move the filling around if necessary. (If needed, turkey basters or syringes may be used in place of the first straw.)